What with “Starships”, “Beez in the Trap”, and “Super Bass”, everyone and their drunk uncle knows Nicki Minaj but not many people know about Beenie Man. Beenie Man is a staple of the dance hall genre whose musichas always got the intense bass of a classic dance hall song, and a hook that gets everyone’s bodies moving. At any party in Hartford that I’ve been to if you put on "I'm Drinking/Rum & Red Bull" or “King of the Dancehall” by Beenie, you get everyone on their feet telling you to turn the volume up.
While “Gun Shot”, off of Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded”, isn’t really designed to get everyone going nuts on the dance floor, Nicki and Beenie Man’s sound in this song is something really fantastic. With a chill vibe and lyrics almost entirely in Patois, you don’t get caught up in the stupidity that Nicki Minaj songs tend to be. One of the reasons her songs are always obnoxious as fuck is that weird thing she does with her voice where her voice will suddenly get really deep and manic and you can’t understand anything she’s saying. That doesn’t happen in “Gun Shot” and her voice ends up being quite enjoyable.
In “Gun Shot”, Nicki’s voice reflects the relaxed unintelligible crooning of lot of pop-reggae songs. Beenie Man’s addition to Nicki’s voice serves as a pretty awesome contrast and really gives the song just what it needs to make sure you’re swaying in your seat, one hand pointing at the ceiling, as you sing along. Or, rather, try to sing along if you’re like me and you don’t actually know how to speak Patois.
Either way, this song is really quite good and it definitely surprised me, considering it’s by Nicki Minaj. As far as I know, “Gun Shot” hasn’t made any appearance on the radio but radio stations would probably just speed it up by 20 beats per minute and add some ridiculous club beat to itso maybe this is a song that can remain the one actually good song by Nicki Minaj. You can listen to it here: